Peters pours in 34 for red-hot Marmion
Even when his run of perfection ran out, Mark Peters was still productive.
The Marmion senior had the game of his career Friday night in Aurora to lead the Cadets to a 60-40 boys basketball victory over St. Edward. Peters was 12-for-13 from the field, including three 3-pointers, and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to score a career-best 34 points while also hauling in a game-high 11 rebounds.
Marmion won the eighth time in its last nine games to improve to 9-5; St. Edward fell to 7-9 in the nonconference game.
"We had no answer for him," said St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek.
In a sequence midway through the fourth quarter, as Marmion gradually pulled away, Peters' impeccable play reached its apex. After connecting on his first 9 shots from the floor, Peters' streak ended on a drive in the paint. But the senior promptly rebounded his own miss to score.
He was fouled on the play, only to miss his lone free throw of the night. Tyler Hlavac kept the ball alive for the Cadets, though, and Peters proceeded to tip-in a missed 3-pointer seconds later.
When he went to the pines a few minutes later, Peters' 34 points were more than St. Edward had produced as a team. Afterward, Peters gave all the credit to his coach, Rashon Burno.
"We had a two-week break (since the Waubonsie Valley Holiday Tournament) and 13 practices during that time," Peters said. "Coach wasn't sure how we would come out today. Since he makes it so hard in practice, the games are almost easy."
Peters was a one-man wrecking crew the whole night for Marmion. Greg Askwith was the only Marmion player other than Peters to score more than once from the field, but Peters' 21 first-half points enabled the Cadets to take a 29-22 lead into the break.
The second quarter was a microcosm of the game; Peters had back-to-back 3-pointers to start the quarter, but Green Wave seventh-man Andrew Waterman also found his range to keep St. Edward within striking distance. Waterman scored 10 of his team-high 12 points in the second as the teams had only four combined players score in the frame.
But the overall play was underscored by efficiency on the offensive end; Marmion and St. Edward connected on 8 straight shots to begin the second.
"(Waterman) came in and gave us a nice spark off the bench," Chuipek said.
Peters' 6 points in the third quarter was two-thirds of the Cadets' production in the quarter, and Marmion finally received greater balance in the fourth quarter as five different players scored to put the game away.
"The bottom line: they were bigger and probably more athletic than we were," Chuipek said. "(Peters) is a heck of a nice ballplayer. He finished everything inside, even when we fouled him."
"I looked for my shot and tried to get to the hole," said Peters.
DJ Brynes had 8 points for St. Edward.